Gibstopping tips

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simeon_, Jul 8, 7:16pm
have a wall to gibstop at home. any tips out there that i might have missed. tradeset 90.GIB 4. and paper tape i have got. yet to buy a trowel.
zak410, Jul 8, 8:34pm
This brand of float is very good at a good price, exists in S/S or spring steal for cheaper (as god as long as you dry it after cleaning so doesn??
trade4us2, Jul 8, 11:36pm
Have a light on the floor shining up the wall, then you can easily see the bumps and hollows. The light will get plaster on it!
zak410, Jul 9, 2:51am
Use 'tufftape' available from stopper-shops if you have to make nice sharp interior corners and you don??
cagivachick1, Jul 9, 6:49am
not many stoppers use trowels nowdays, big broadknife is the way to go
cabrio1, Jul 9, 8:31am
Start in the corner that you will see last. Then improve as you get to the more visible areas.
Gib website has a good tutorial, I bet youtube will have heaps more.
Good tools are a must as in earlier posts. Cleanliness is too.
Good luck, I mastered it and saved heaps.
In the beginning I did the first couple of steps then got the pros in the finish off with a proper sander.
There's a heap of pitfalls, how brave do you feel?
gedc, Jul 9, 10:03am
Make the tradeset fairly creamy and add a little water ( little ) to the plus 4 to make it easier to work with and apply. Otherwise you'll get arms like popeye and wonder why your tape isn't flat. I just did a whole house and if you take your time and have a good eye then it's a doddle. Once dry get a small sanding sponge and a $10 dollar inspection light and shine the light across the surface at right angles. You'll see every tiny depression that can easily be sanded off using the sponge. oh. Tradeset sets rock solid and plus 4 sets soft (ish). Don't mix them together during application or you'll be leaving divots all over the place as you try to flatten the tradeset and the plus 4 dissapears with the lightest touch. and given plus 4 is a air drying compound and tradeset is chemical reaction then its okay for plus 4 to be put on top of tradeset but don't apply tradeset on top of plus 4. At least thats what I took from the instructions. Gibline corners also make internals and externals a breeze
karmarh, Jul 9, 10:41am
Buy yourself a carpenters pencil & LIGHTLY circle any areas that need sanding after using the light as above especially if you will need to sand a large area. Don't use a good vacuum cleaner to clean up the dust. Shovel up as much as you can first & then use an old or cheap one to finish up. Plaster dust plays havoc on vacuum cleaners. A tarpaulin will be a good investment.
gedc, Jul 9, 12:45pm
another tip re sanding. If you need to go back and spot fill any small areas after your main sand then mix a little bit of food dye into the plaster. Just enough to change its color slightly then you can see where you need to resand fairly easily without having to wander around the room trying to find the bits you filled. Primer and paint covers it easily.
survivalkiwi, Jul 9, 6:36pm
Best tip I can give is to get as professional to do it.
kenw1, Jul 9, 8:21pm
A really bright light is essential, I used a 500w flood and that improved my finishing immensely.
blueviking, Jul 9, 8:59pm
Use lite blue 90 for all coats. Sandable and also can be used for all coats as you can mix it as thick as you like and it sets in around 90 mins
jezabeel, Jul 11, 12:46am
From a stopper/painter 20+ years experience, this is the best advice on here.
underconstructy, Jul 11, 2:22am
Ill say there is nothing quiet like a shitty amateur gib stopping, then painting by an amateur! its a marriage made in hell!
cabrio1, Jul 11, 5:40am
Have to say it does take practise, and there are definately downfalls.
Depends on the amount you need to do and your general aptitude to DIY.
However I saved $20k rather than getting the pros in, and I bet you no one will know the difference when it comes time to sell my place.
Guaranteed.
Had a prof jib stopper do my sanding, offered me a job.
Also the satisfaction of doing it myself.
Have to say I did about 1km of joins and corners, sick of it after that so hats of to the professionals.
zak410, Jul 11, 5:58am
Well done,
your house must be huge, to cost so much to stop.
cabrio1, Jul 11, 6:05am
It bloody well is huge, cost was to install/stop/ paint.
Did the lot myself, huge Reno on an old villa with a big extension.
Have used up all my DIY reserves however, can't even pick up a paintbrush anymore. Lol.
Full bloody sheets everywhere, on a 10 ft stud, ceilings throughout as well.
Used buckets and buckets of gear.
I think if I knew the grief I wouldn't have started, however done now and looks primo. Did all the coving as well.
Never say never again.
Never again.
zak410, Jul 11, 7:47am
It's a big job, stopping, and very good value for about 2% or so of the cost of new house!
jezabeel, Jul 11, 8:04am
And how many hours did it take?
I've seen plenty of so called 'pro stoppers' work that frankly was a joke!
As a professional stopper myself, there's no way in hell I would even consider sanding someone elses work.
cabrio1, Jul 11, 9:09am
Well I started with a "professional" turned out to be a drunk who overcharged me for a piss easy skim job.
Failed to turn up and finish the job and left his tools behind.
Well I watched his teqnique and proceeded to teach myself. Used his tools.
Let's face it it's not rocket science. It took weeks, every weekend and evening after work.
With practise, taking good advise and reading the instructions on the gib website I managed to do the lot. Had a builder friend help me put the gib up. Relined the old villa and completed the whole extension. Ceilings, coving the lot.
Didn't have a sander machine so got a recomend in, happy to help me with advise and offered to do the final sand.
Was impressed with my work and offered me a job, which I politely declined. I have a job.
Yes it's tricky, yes it's hard work, yes it's easy to make a complete balls of it, yes that could cost you big.
Also can be mastered to a degree to make a satisfactory job.
You woulnt help any one, fair enough.
I wouldn't help you fix your car/ motorbike/ helicopter or airplane.
underconstructy, Jul 11, 9:57am
So you didn't did it yourself then as you had a tradesman sand it for you.
morrisjvan, Jul 12, 10:14am
The last coat should be nice and ''soft'' to sand,
only sand this coat.
If you have to sand the preceding coats, then you have not done a good enough job.
trade4us2, Jul 12, 8:38pm
I had a guy fix the Gib and stop it in my current house.
He said that if stopping is done right it should barely need sanding, and he was right.
bluecat1529, Jul 12, 11:49pm
My best tip as someone who renovates old places for a living is to just call a gibstopper. Ask around and get some recommendations and a couple of quotes. You leave in the morning and go to work and he comes and does the job. Do this for a few days and it will be done. And done right. No hassle, no lengthy process, no swearing as you learn. You 're happy because it's done, he's happy because he's earning a living, and if you're married your missus will be rapt because she doesn't have to live with the mess for months. It's a win all round. Let the pros do what they are good at and you do what you are good at to pay for it
rojill, Jul 14, 4:51am
When straightening walls or depressions in plasterboard/gib I've found the easiest way to highlight the faults in these areas is to run a soft chippy's pencil over the wall (up/down/across) over the area, then use a sanding board to run over the surface to remove the high spots and the pencil lines. Immediately the low spots will stand out as the pencil lines where the low spots are will remain on the wall, highlighting the low spots. This way you will have a guide as you are filling/plastering. Alternatively. if you have a soft plaster finishing coat you can continue sanding and as you do you have an immediate feedback by observing where your pencil lines remain and where you have removed them by sanding. Just be careful you do not remove all the plaster covering the high spots otherwise you will end up abrading the gib board paper finish, requiring you to to give these areas another skim coat.
Make your own sanding board out of any any FLAT/ STRAIGHT/level/square piece of timber, 110mm wide and 500mm/1000mm long. Cut a length of sandpaper 40mm longer than the timber and fit to one face of the board, turning up the ends and staple/tack on. The longer the board then the better the end result. You can attach another shorter/thinner piece of timber running down the centre of the board on the face opposite to the sandpaper to act as a handle to help you grip the board if needed.
Using a sanding board and a soft pencil will result in very straight walls . That's how yachts get their very even and smooth hull finishes, by using a flexible conveyor type belt about 1 to 3 metres long. Have fun !